Poll: Would you like multi-screen functionality on your next tablet?

One can’t speak about multi-tasking without the new Galaxy Note 10.1 popping up in conversation. MWC was full of great devices, but this tablet really called my attention (you can see our hands-on video for a demo). The specs might not be too impressive (while still great), but what makes this tablet stand out is its multi-screen functionality.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 lets users work on various applications simultaneously. This is possible by dividing the screen area to show both applications at once. It provides a true multi-tasking experience, similar to that of a computer. A feature that I (and surely, many of you) have been wanting for quite some time, now.

This made Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 one of the most exciting and innovative products at MWC. No other Android manufacturer has done this yet, and the reason is not very clear. Such feature would really make a tablet much more efficient, in a world where tablets are considered a luxury. Check out minipcpro’s video to see a demonstration of the feature:

But we would like to reach out to our readers and see what they think of the multi-screen feature. Please participate in the poll and hit the comments section to let us know what you think. Are you with me, and believe that more manufacturers should adopt multi-screen functionality? Am I crazy and this feature is nothing but a gimmick?

I am kinda looking forward to it, too. I mean, there will be better tablets for the same price (or even less), but this feature is very enticing for me.

http://www.swornbrotherhood.com/ nemesys06

They should have a task bar on the bottom ago you canswitch between running applications, that way you can use the apps at full screen. Though this is a great idea, I would rather be able to have the minimize/maximize feature used on computers, so you can have multiple (more than 2) screens open at once. I do think this is awesome though, Samsung is always looking to innovate

toomuchgame441

webOS has an app that does just this, its called Glimpse, and I can have 2 – 5 different pages/widgets running on the screen at once. That’s right… I can be browsing, tweeting, using the calculator or checking the weather all at once… Great app/feature

maximillion82

Great idea finally tablets become much more useful and user friendly. This might even give windows 8 on tablets a stuff run, iPad what?

jjrudey

I guess I’m the only one that would never use it.

YamiYaiba

This already exists in several CM9 roms. It’s called Cornerstone.

Boom! Its phatman

This would make tablets very useful….and yea, put the ipad to shame.

hldc1

Apple would include this in iOS 7 (1-2 years after Android), call it revolutionary, and then patent it. Then would try to sue everyone and their mother for using “their technology.”

666

I want the iPad 3 screen!

Aaron soles

Can this be put on the galaxy tab 10.1 with a Rom?

EasyEEE

Well there ya go. I would like to do that on that Prime.

shonangreg

This would be great for presentations, if the external display could show different content than the “control” display.

http://twitter.com/ReverendYo Matthew Rose

I am looking forward to a way of extending my Android workspace to local screens, in a similar way some of us have extended desktops setup on extra monitors. I imagine something like this could be done through Wifi Direct, and would make not only presentations much easier (different content on tab versus external displays, but also for video/movie watching (imagine having the movie playing on the external screen, and have interactive content or a remote on the Tab itself)

http://twitter.com/mcprodyg Kirk Chris Brown

saw this on windows 8 last year

Christopher Suits

I love my Galaxy Tab 10.1, and I have to admit this would be a killer feature to have on it. It would absolutely make tablets a seriously viable alternative to a computer, at least in my mind.

andrew__des_moines

This should not even be considered until tablets grow (literally) into a mature size, i.e. 12 inches or more. With all the 7-10″ Android failures, why not take advantage of Android’s key advantage over Apple — namely variation — to bring larger tablets to the market. Wouldn’t it be educational for some blog (hint, hint) to poke around and see if any one has been studying this and do a little pushing. If I were one of the Android tablet makers licking my wounds from 2011 and trying to find a way to regroup and try again — this is definitely the route I would take.

Mark Williams

Must have on my next Tablet…What good is having a powerful multitasking device and you can’t do more than one thing at a time!

WickedToby741

This would most certainly be useful, but I’d much rather see the next Transformer or a tablet with a similar mouse/keyboard dock get Ubuntu for Android. That way, when you dock it it becomes a full laptop computer. Tegra 3 and 2 GB of RAM too please.

I am as big of an Android fan as the next guy but it should be mentioned that this is a key feature of Win 8. Honestly from what I’ve seen it will be very difficult for Android to compete with Win 8 unless Jelly Bean truly “doubles down” on tablets.

Jelly bean at a minimum needs to:

-Add built in way to split screen apps
-Remove lag
-Remove force closes
-Do something cool for docking to “desktop mode” – hopefully they will surprise us here
-Add some exciting new GUI features to make it as fun and interesting on first glance as Win 8
-Be on shipping tablets by the holidays

Fact is that because MS is pushing Metro onto the desktop/laptop users, they will have an instant user base of hundreds of millions. So there will be many, many Win 8 Metro apps that can be used on tablets. They will surpass Android tablet apps within 6 months. So it’s going to be very, very hard to compete with Win 8 on tablets.

As far as I can tell after playing with Win 8 on my laptop for a few weeks, it will smoke ICS tablets (even though I don’t like it on my laptop).

RedPandaAlex

The problem I have with windows 8 is that depending on what you’re doing, you can get kicked back and forth between metro and desktop modes a lot, and metro sucks for keyboard and mouse while desktop sucks for a touchscreen. But I agree that I’m really jealous of the ability to dock an app to the side in Win8. In theory it shouldn’t be hard to put that into the next version of Android. Apps are already designed to scale. You should be able to, say, dock the gmail app on a sidebar of an android tablet and have it display the phone UI for that app.

And yes, I’d love to be able to dock into a desktop mode, even if it was just Chrome OS.

hldc1

Android tablets really need to show off their superiority as both creation and consumption devices. The inclusion of thumb-type split keyboards, a stylus that works properly (yes, a good stylus would be a selling point), and innovative and efficient multi-tasking capabilities would boost the profile of android tablets. The iPad is great if you want to play games, watch a video, or check your email (consumption), but isn’t all that great if you want to take notes, write a report, create a multi-page spreadsheet, or put together a presentation (creation).

http://profile.yahoo.com/RGAX75BIHGIMVLBE3DT2MIHCJU James G

I use multi screen stuff on my desktop all the time. I cant tell you how many times I wish I could do that on my phone/tablet

alanbcohen

This would be very worthwhile, even if the multi-screens were not displayed at the same time. I am mainly a Linux user and use the pager all the time. I’ve even added pager functionality to my remaining Windows machines at home and my work machine too.